The Tech Landscape #135 ᚼᛒ
Tech Landscape is a weekly collection of news about consumer digital technology. Stories are selected by me, Peter Gasston, with a little insight and opinion where appropriate. This is issue 136.
The Rök Runestone, likely carved in the 9th century, is entry Ög 136 in the Swedish database of runes. It’s the longest-known runic inscription on stone and so considered to be the first piece of written Swedish literature.
Let’s start this edition with some self-promotion:
Even More 2020 Trends
I know we’re weeks into 2020 already, but the trends pieces keep coming. I wrote (with my ace colleagues) a piece for the latest issue of the Marketing Society’s magazine, EMPOWER.
Read Tech Trends in 2020 (illustrated) or Tech Trends in 2020 (text)—the content is the same.
You can tell the parts I wrote as they’re also in my own Consumer Digital Technology: Things to Watch in 2020 blog post (mobile preview).
As before, I would LOVE IT if you could share some or all of these pieces with your friends or colleagues. Thanks!
Browsers
The Chromium project, which powers many browsers including Chrome, announced that it will begin to phase out third-party cookies over the next few years. This is a win for user privacy, but will have a big effect on how advertisers track people across the web, and advertising trade bodies are already up in arms.
blog.chromium.org/2020/01/building-more-private-web-path-towards.html
Google announced a timeline for the end of Chrome Apps, the packaged web apps with access to system APIs, which never really took off. Chrome Extensions will continue to be supported.
blog.chromium.org/2020/01/moving-forward-from-chrome-apps.html
Social
Instagram began testing direct messages on the web for ‘a small percentage of people’. This will be very useful for small businesses and creators.
theverge.com/2020/1/14/21063269/instagram-web-dm-test-launch-browser-access-messages-facebook
Instagram has dropped the IGTV icon from its app after reportedly poor user engagement and app downloads. Longer-form video content will still be available through different discovery channels.
techcrunch.com/2020/01/18/igtv-button-gone/
Facebook launched Login Notifications, a new security feature which alerts users when they use Facebook to log in to a third-party website or app—letting them know if their details are compromised.
developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2020/01/14/new-facebook-login-feature-with-added-controls/
WeChat is testing a paywall feature for posts from official accounts, which lets authors charge a small fee to users for reading.
technode.com/2020/01/15/wechat-rolls-out-paywall-feature-for-official-accounts/
Retail
Google has ‘entered into an agreement’ to buy Pointy, a company which makes it easy for local retailers to put their product inventory on their business profile in Search.
blog.google/outreach-initiatives/small-business/helping-local-businesses-showcase-products-online-pointy/
Google is rolling out a new results page for fashion and apparel searches, which will show products from multiple retailers together. This makes it much easier for users to find items, but seems like it will reduce traffic to websites.
blog.google/products/search/new-way-find-clothes-shoes-and-more-search/
ASOS is trialling a new synthetic sizing service which will render digital outfits on different-sized models, providing a wide range of product images without the need for photography.
retailtechinnovationhub.com/home/2020/1/14/asos-announces-see-my-fit-augmented-reality-pilot
People in China spent £1.2 trillion (yep) shopping online in 2019, an increase of 16.5% over the previous year.
abacusnews.com/china-tech-city/heres-how-much-people-china-spent-shopping-online-2019/article/3046587
Games
Google is partnering with BT to bundle its Stadia cloud gaming service with some fibre broadband packages. Will be interesting to see if this is a good enough incentive.
twitter.com/bt_uk/status/1218079839187501056
Fortnite launched the Icon Series of pop culture character skins. Gamer Ninja is the first to have his own skin.
theverge.com/2020/1/16/21068938/fortnite-ninja-skin-icon-series-metaverse-tyler-blevins-ultimate-virtual-world-star-wars
Apps
Google has acquired AppSheet, a development platform that creates mobile apps from data in Google Sheets without any coding. It will become a Google Cloud product.
cloud.google.com/blog/topics/inside-google-cloud/helping-businesses-create-and-extend-applications-without-coding
WeChat released its Mini-Program Framework, a tool for running WeChat apps on other hardware devices (like smart displays), a way of extending WeChat’s functionality beyond the smartphone app.
cntechpost.com/2020/01/12/wechat-releases-hardware-framework-to-let-mini-programs-run-beyond-wechat/
Huawei
Huawei announced more details about its Google-free operating system, including an alternative to the app store.
techradar.com/uk/news/huawei-pitches-its-alternative-to-google-play-store
Huawei also announced a deal to use TomTom maps as it can’t use Google’s.
reuters.com/article/us-tomtom-huawei-tech/tomtom-closes-deal-with-huawei-for-use-of-maps-and-services-spokesman-idUSKBN1ZG1SW
The US’s trade ban on Huawei could be bad news for Google. If Huawei’s alternative system takes off, it could reduce Google’s share in important emerging markets. If Huawei further licenses to other Chinese brands like Oppo, Vivo, and OnePlus, things could get very sticky.
Everything Else
Apple has acquired Xnor.ai, a company which develops machine learning systems that run on devices rather than in the cloud—fitting Apple’s privacy-first ethos. It’s unclear where the technology will be applied, but my guess is an image recognition tool in iPhone will be first.
geekwire.com/2020/exclusive-apple-acquires-xnor-ai-edge-ai-spin-paul-allens-ai2-price-200m-range/
Amazon announced Wavelength, a service for 5G ‘edge computing’. Essentially it makes it faster to deliver data over 5G, opening the opportunity for mobile cloud gaming and rich augmented reality, amongst other things.
aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2019/12/announcing-aws-wavelength-delivering-ultra-low-latency-applications-5g/
Amazon is sending out invitations to buy its Echo Frames Alexa-powered glasses, to users who previously expressed an interest.
droid-life.com/2020/01/13/amazon-sending-out-echo-frame-invites/